Mikhail was pushed into the ground by the force of the elementally infused cry, his muscles becoming sore as he maintained his posture.
In his mind, he chanted a single word.
'ENDURE! ENDURE! ENDURE!'
After what felt like forever passed, he felt the pressure finally dissipating, before being tugged forward by the beast! It had begun to charge at the first line of attack with a gallop, raising its claws to strike!
Mikhail felt the skin on his hands scrape against the indents of the bone spear, making them heat up to a painful degree, yet, his grip grew tighter!
The beast charged forward, and the spear was ripped out of its leg! Mikhail sucked in air through his teeth, not enjoying the burning sensation one bit.
CLANG!
POW!
The sounds of several weapons striking at the beast resounded out in the forest while Mikhail pulled his feet out of the ground. 'This thing will last us for at least a month! If I don't get the finishing blow, I'll have to wait that long before I can get my hands on some valuable resources again!'
A spark of determination flashed across his eyes as he finally freed his legs from the fertile soil.
He watched as the second wave rushed past him, having been blown back by the beast's cry. Mikhail's eyes then looked at the battlefield, where the Kryptodrakon was being surrounded by tens of different fights, flawlessly working together.
In his mind, he ran a few calculations… And then he smirked.
His legs bent as he crouched, before extending as he put all of his power into a leap above the beast! He soared up into the air diagonally, and the beast's head quickly entered his sights. He reeled his arm back and prepared to throw the spear directly into its brain.
"DIE!"
With all the strength he could muster, the spear pierced the air with a frightening whistle, leaving a trail of gray wind behind it. The beast turned its head to face the incoming threat, only for it to pierce through its eyeball and then its brain in a single shot!
With a weak cry, the body fell while convulsing violently.
Yet, when the beast's eye and Mikhail's eyes met, Mikhail's vision went dark. He had been blinded by the layer of Shade now hugging his head!
Thus, Mikhail continued through the air blindly!
And due to the odd angle he had jumped in order to get that shot in, the top of his head slammed against a tree. The shade dispersed into the air after that, and then he fell back down, into the beast's nest, crushing one of the three large eggs in it.
His vision was blurry, unable to focus, but he barely managed to stay awake. Someone picked him up out of the slimy mess he had gotten himself into, throwing him over their shoulder. His ears were beginning to heal, so traces of happy voices could be heard as he was rushed away.
That person carried him to the camp.
And unlike when they were hunting, the young orc didn't need to be as careful on the trip back. Their speed even increased when Mikhail finally gathered his bearings, allowing him to run on his own.
At that point, Mikhail discovered that it was Mog that had come to his aid.
And by the time they returned to the camp, Mikhail's hearing fully recovered, and the blood on his neck had dried. The healing factor of a refined mortal body was insane, after all.
However, he looked like shit. And that was made more than obvious when he came face to face with Yagnar.
"Good heavens! What happened to you?" Yagnar said while shooting out of his chair, inspecting Mikhail.
"The fool got the killing blow on a Kryptodrakon but wasn't careful, so he ended up landing on one of the eggs."
When Yagnar heard him, he let out an exasperated sigh.
That was the loss of some serious bartering power!
"Half the precious materials of the corpse are going directly into my pocket for that screw up, runt."
"Wait but-"
"No buts! Go wash off!"
Mikhail sucked his teeth and shook his head before beginning his trek to the river again, going straight ahead from the opening of the camp left by the carriages.
He jogged lightly, and on the way there couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Man, being treated like a kid at my age. I'll never get used to it..." he said to himself.
He quickly made it to the stony banks of the river once more, and was surprised to find the adults in charge of washing clothes at work. 'How convenient!' he thought as he walked over to the nearest orc.
"Ah, hello Mikhail. I see you're in quite the mess. Hand over your clothes, I'll wash 'em for ya'."
The woman held out her hand, expecting his shirt to come off first. Yet he pulled down his pants!
"Woah now! Give me a warning first so I can turn around!"
Yet her actions did not match her words. Her eyes were practically glued to his manhood and she made zero effort to turn around.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Here." He then threw his shirt near her, before jumping into the river himself, a little down stream and towards the other side so he wouldn't get the water washing the clothes dirty, and so that the water washing the clothes wouldn't get him dirty.
The other adults had missed what happened and politely ignored his presence as he bathed in the river.
He then stayed in the river for a long while, waiting for his clothes to dry. The woman who had washed them was kind enough to leave them on a branch to dry before leaving with the rest of the adults.
There was a serene peace here.
Mikhail had once dreamed of such a peace, when he was a young boy.
But his ambitions didn't lie there.
He felt a desire for something more than mere peace…
'In a world of magic and Gods... Do I really need to settle for mere pixels and polygons? Maybe not... Maybe, I can become a God too... And create my own world. But when? The Sage Realm?'
He shook his head silently as he floated on the surface of the water.
'No… The tribe heads may be powerful, but given what I've learned from Yagnar and the others, the creation of a world sounds too far above their caliber… I need to aim higher than that, then.'
A soft silver glow permeated outwards from his body as he closed his eyes.
He wanted to walk on his path to power with such intense desire that the trek to the human tribe felt unbearable. But there was little he could do about that… He could only stifle the impatience and practice his spearmanship, or workout.
Or play card games, of course…
Eventually, he came out of the river.
With the clear summer sky; and the sun's intense rays falling down from above… There was ample time for his clothes to get dry. Now fully clean once more, he quickly sprinted back to the camp.
As he did so, his mood grew a little sour at the thought of losing out on some of his precious resources… The necessity for money had been ingrained into his very being in his last life, after all.
Not that he was earning money, per se.
In this global society, money was merit, raw resources, and power, hence why Mikhail's ingrained values led him to gather as many resources as possible.
He of course, would've still gotten some due to his contribution in the hunt, unlike the third and fourth wave of attackers, but the hammered in necessity drove him to desire higher quality resources.
Resources that were worth more…
Putting those thoughts aside, Mikhail entered the camp.
Things were peaceful as the different orcs congregated together in the camp, some in the tents and others sparring outdoors.
He found Mog alone, training with his hammer. He would swing it and stop before it hit the ground. It seemed he was training his control right now.
"Yo! How's it going, fool?"
"Everything's good. Is Yargol with Glasha somewhere right now?"
"Uh-huh. And Yatur is busy doing… Something. I forgot."
"Right… Anyway, how's the quality of the Kryptodrakon corpse? Was it close to becoming an Evolver Tier Beast?"
Mog shook his head.
"As if, fool. If it were that strong we'd be severely injured right now at least, and you definitely wouldn't have gotten the kill so quickly. Thank the heavens that we're far away from the closest danger zone in the Shagar Jungle."
"Speaking of, how much longer until we reach the Human Tribe? Should be another three months at this rate, yeah?"
BANG!
"Shit. My concentration wavered because of you, fool!"
Mog shook his head as he pulled his large hammer out of the ground with a bit of difficulty.
"Yeah, three more months from now if all goes well. Could be longer, could be shorter. Depends on how fast the Chasmosaurs feel like moving and how much we have to hunt. And, of course, whether or not we have to deal with a raid."